The New Beginning
by HockeyStar31
Summary: It is a new beginning, as Optimus foretold. A year after the events of Transformers Prime, Team Prime faces a new, growing threat against them and mankind. The secret that aliens roam Earth has been uncovered, and now all Cybertronians alike are running from the planet as Earth throws all it has at these aliens they see as a danger, attacking both good and bad robots.
1. Part 1

**Hi everyone! Im Hockeystar31 and this is my first story on Fanfiction (don't judge!) and i have been on this site for an awhile ****actually, but never really got around to making my own story before, (still don't judge) before I start writing this story (or you read it) you can know a little about me first if you'd like, but if you're one of those eager people that don't bother reading the author's stuff and just want to go ahead and read the story, go on ahead 'cause I'm not holding you back. **

**Anyway, I like hockey (obviously) and I'm pretty good at it too. I AM a girl don't get me wrong a lot of people do on here (Don't even THINK of judging), and I like doing sports or watching shows in my free time ... or in this case, writing, it's gonna happen a bit now i guess. :) I have a sister on here, (Guestpersonanonymous) and she's a really good writer. She likes writing warrior books (heard of the series?) and you can go check her out if you'd like ... **

**Anyway ... now that's done, ON WITH THE STORY! MWAHAHAHAHAHAA! :T that was ****supposed to scare you.**

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><p>Arcee let out a sigh of relaxation as she slipped into the warm, oil bath. It had been a long time since she had used an oil bath. In fact, Arcee couldn't even remember the last time she had used one before the war.<p>

Arcee sighed again. _The war, _she thought in her head. _At least it's over now, Cybertron is restored. _Arcee frowned. _We lost so many good autobots; Cliffjumper, Tailgate, Optimus Prime ... _

She shook her head, so much had happened over the year since Optimus had made his sacrifice for the allspark; after the funeral everyone seemed to go their separate ways across Cybertron.

Arcee knew that Bulkhead went to help the former deceptacons rebuild the planet, Bumblebee was assigned to search for autobots or deceptacons in ships that had returned knowing the war was over, and Ultra Magnus was voted to become one of the leaders of cybertron. Ratchet had simply gone back to Earth, Smokescreen and Knock Out's whereabouts were unknown to her; all she knew was that Smokescreen had taken Knock Out with him. That left Wheeljack and Arcee, and they cared for the new and young Cybertronians teaching them everything there was to know-

A loud boom erupted Arcee from her thoughts. "Even how to act like a Wrecker," she muttered under her breath, continuing her thought. She clambered out of the warm oil bath.

Arcee rushed outside to find two young Cybertronians and exclaimed loudly, "What in the allspark are you two doing?!"

One of the Cybertronians turned around, it was CrookedJaw, a Cybertronian who had dark green metal with black outlines and streaks running down his back, arms and legs. He had curved shoulders that had two wings sticking out and a round-shaped head with half his face black (showing wires underneath) that came with a crooked jaw that he got in an accident about two months ago, when he stood near an active grenade. Crookedjaw's blue optics grew wide when he saw Arcee and he nearly dropped the chest full of grenades he was carrying.

The other one turned around to see what Crookedjaw was looking at. It was GoldTaint; he had gold metal and thick arms and legs that had some light blue metal on the edges, his shoulders came up in layers and the last layer was the same light blue. GoldTaint had a squarish-diamond shaped head and was also carrying grenades.

"Well?" Arcee demanded. "We uh, um, I um, well ... GoldTaint, you uh, tell her," CrookedJaw squeaked.

GoldTaint shot a glare at CrookedJaw before he turned to look at Arcee. "Well, we were carrying the grenades to the gym but then _CrookedJaw_ dropped a grenade and it exploded."

CrookedJaw glared back at GoldTaint. "HEY! I wasn't the one to drop it, it was you, you clumsy oaf!"

Before Arcee could say anything, GoldTaint lunged at CrookedJaw and knocked him to the ground, where both boys wrestled, dropping the grenades carelessly on the way.

"YOU dropped it, you lier!" GoldTaint yelled, scoring a blow on CrookedJaw's face.

"NO I didn't, you overgrown piece of scrap!" CrookedJaw yelled back, kneeing GoldTaint in the chin.

"SAYS THE BOT WHO BLEW NEARLY HALF OF HIS FACE OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE!" GoldTaint hooked his arm around CrookedJaw's neck as he said this, giving it a squeeze.

"IT WAS YOU WHO NEARLY BLEW UP MY FACE, YOU THREW THE GRENADE RIGHT AT ME!" CrookedJaw punched GoldTaint in the gut.

But before GoldTaint could either say a good comeback, or punch CrookedJaw again, a big powerful hand pulled him from the fight and into the air, and another snatched up CrookedJaw. GoldTaint looked down, knowing WheelJack had lifted them both in the air with each hand.

"Okay, how hard is it to complete a simple task like carrying a couple _boxes _to the gym?" WheelJack scolded. "Well, I guess if you give a task to two troublemakers that involves grenades given from a Wrecker, obviously SO many things could go wrong!"

Wheeljack spun around, a scowl on his face, and saw Arcee. "Oh, Arcee you're here, I didn't realize."

"YOU DIDN'T REALIZE ANYTHING WHEN GIVING A COUPLE OF KIDS GRENADES!" Arcee's face got close to Wheeljack's to prove her point.

"HEY! I'm _not_ a kid!" CrookedJaw piped up, but was silenced by glares from both WheelJack and Arcee.

"They were bored, and I was shipping some of my grenades to the gym anyway!" WheelJack protested in his defense. Arcee opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a siren. _Beep Beep Beep, Beep Beep Beep, Beep Beep Beep!_

"THE SHIP IS SINKING, THE SHIP IS SINKING, ABANDON SHIP!" CrookedJaw screeched, waving his arms around and pedaling his feet in an attempt to run away. However, he was still being held in the air by WheelJack, and was getting nowhere.

"Honestly CrookedJaw, you watch too many Earthen movies." GoldTaint crossed his arms, looking quite rididculous when he was still hanging in midair. "First of all, we're _not_ on a ship. Second of all, the siren's not saying the "ship" is sinking, it's saying that the space bridge is going to be activated. You can tell it's saying that 'cause of the three beeps it makes before pausing. You'd know all of this if you _ever _payed attention when Arcee is teaching."

CrookedJaw crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue to suggest that he didn't care one bit about what GoldTaint said.

"That's right GoldTaint, the space bridge is going to open, so we should go see who activated it, here or on the other side," Arcee said, walking away. Wheeljack dropped both of the rascals on the ground and began following Arcee.

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><p>"Know who'd be activating the portal?" Wheeljack asked Arcee when he caught up to her.<p>

"Not that I'd know of," Arcee replied.

As soon as Wheeljack and Arcee had gotten into the building where the space bridge was kept, they heard a loud humming noise meaning the space bridge was opening. They both saw a swirl of green mist forming and as it got bigger they saw a shadow of something inside running toward them. Wheeljack tensed, and put a hand on his grenade as the shadow got closer.

Arcee squinted trying to make out the shape running toward them, and she did notice the shape was partly limping and wasn't really running.

The shape stumbled out of the portal, and Arcee gasped. It was Ratchet, who was so completely covered up in deep long cuts and dents that made him look like he'd fall apart at any second. Ratchet was breathing hard like he had ran ten clicks. The medic bent down to the ground on one knee, reached out, and then laid a clenched hand on the ground. Arcee noticed he was holding somethings or rather, was it ... some ones?

Jack, Miko, and Raf jumped out out of Rachet's hand and yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Ratchet chuckled as he stood up effortlessly. Raf, Miko and Jack were wearing space suits and on top of them, they wore party hats shaped like cones.

"Wha- what's going on?" Arcee asked in a very much confused way.

"Don't you know?" Jack said,"It's our one year anniversary since we all met and joined Team Prime!" Arcee couldn't believe it, had it really been a year since she had meet Jack? It felt like it was only yesterday!

"WOAH! Are those real aliens?" A voice said across the room. Everyone turned to see Crookedjaw and Goldtaint standing in the doorway. Crookedjaw was gawking at the site of Jack, Miko and Raf, while Goldtaint stood with crossed arms and was looking very annoyed with Crookedjaw.

"Way to ruin the moment, dummy," he said before smacking Crookedjaw in the back of the head.

"OW!"

Arcee groaned, having forgotten the two young autobots would have still been hanging around. _Way to ruin the moment indeed,_ she thought. However, Miko had other things to say.

"Oh my gosh! Are those real baby bots? I haven't seen any yet, you know, 'cause you guys are all like a million years old!"

Ratchet smiled and nodded thoughtfully,"It's good to see new sparklings, now that the war is over." GoldTaint wasn't paying attention, he was too busy trying not to get punched by his victim. Then he ran out of the room in a retreat with Crookedjaw chasing after him.

Wheeljack looked at Ratchet who was still covered in deep gashes. "Ya, um, Ratchet, by the way, why are you covered in scratches and not getting yourself to a doctor?"

Ratchet chuckled while the kids laughed. "Wheeljack the scratches . . . are not actually scratches." Miko pointed them out, but Wheeljack only tilted his head in response.

"What Miko is saying, is that those scratches are only painted ones, done by Jack." Raf explained and to show Wheeljack what he meant, Raf tried putting his hand in a big gash on Ratchet's leg, but only touched painted metal.

"Wow Jack, I never knew you could paint so well," Arcee commented, looking at Jack then crossing her arms.

Jack's face grew hot. "It's something I've picked up while you guys were away."

Miko jumped up and down in her big space suit. "SPEAKING of guys, where is Bulkhead? I haven't seen him yet, and I have SO much to tell him about since I last saw him!"

Raf nodded. "Me too, I'd like to see Bumblebee."

Wheeljack grinned. "I'll comm-link Bulkhead and Bumblebee to tell them we have some visitors." The mech told Miko before walking away.

"Heck, might as well just comm-link the whole team!" Miko called after him.

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><p>Wheeljack lead everyone to his home after Arcee had refused to let everyone stay at her condo for the night. Everyone would wait there for the rest of the team to come. On the way there, Jack, Miko and Raf kept dodging Cybertronian feet to not get stepped on, so Arcee finally decided that Raf and Miko would ride on Ratchet's and Weeljack's shoulders while she had Jack riding on hers in a sitting position. Jack saw that while sitting on Arcee's shoulders, the different robots that were walking around him kept staring at him, Miko and Raf before resuming looking forward. <em>It's <em>_probably because they've never seen a human before, _Jack thought.

The sky started getting dark on the walk, but in response, the planet seemed to light up on its own, producing energon glows from the designed creases in the ground, streets and skyscrapers.

"Wow," Jack breathed looking around. "It's beautiful."

Ratchet seemed to have gone into a trance seeing the beautiful waves of the blue light the energon created. "It is indeed," he mumbled as his optics grew wide with astonishment. "It's like the war never happened."

A little while later, they reached Wheeljack's condo. Wheeljack lead everyone inside after opening a sliding mechanical door.

"Nice place," Arcee commented sarcastically looking around. They all stood (or sat on a shoulder) in a large room that had what looked like weapons that sat on top of racks on either side of the room. In a corner there was a metal desk, and on top of it was something that looked like a half made grenade. By the desk there was a huge pile of grenades. Scattered across the entire floor were parts of grenades that looked broken.

Wheeljack scratched the back of his head."I ... didn't know I would be having guests."

"You think?" Miko scolded, jumping off Wheeljack's shoulder when the bot kneeled down to examine a dented piece of metal that was on the floor.

Miko ran over to a weapons rack that held different types of ninja swords. "What's with the weapons? I thought the war was over."

Wheeljack stood up. "They're my old ones that I've used during the war."

Miko squinted looking closely at the swords. "But they look so new and like they've hardly been used!" She exclaimed, reaching up on her toes to touch a blade of a sword.

"Probably because I polished them not too long ago." Wheeljack stood up and walked over to where Miko was.

"But still, they look brand new! And it isn't like you to polish your stuff."

Arcee narrowed her eyes after what Miko had said. "You've been making swords again havn't you?"

Wheeljack opened his mouth,"I-" He paused, and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Ok, you got me,"

Jack, still sitting on Arcee's shoulder, looked back and forth from Arcee to Wheeljack. "Is there something that I've missed?"

The Wrecker looked over to Jack. "I have a hobby for making swords."

Arcee rolled her eyes. "More like an obsession then a hobby." She glared at Wheeljack, and the other robot tensed.

Ratchet knew what was going to come next if he didn't do anything, so he rushed in between them and held out his hands in a "stop" position in front of the two robots, "There's _NOT _going to be a fight, _not_ while I'm around."

Miko slumped her shoulders and groaned, "Aww, Ratchet, you ruin everything. This fight was going to be _sick!_"

Ratchet looked over to Miko and felt like doing a human thing- a face palm.

"How about we clean this place up. I don't want you stepping on a grenade and have it blow up under you," Ratchet ordered while wandering to a different room to find a high tech computer (there wasn't any on Earth and he's been longing for a high tech computer). "I also don't want to fix anyone at the moment either so don't bother me."

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><p><strong>Sooooooooooo, how do you guys like it? I really hope it wasn't too boring, but don't worry, it's going to get more <strong>**interesting in the next chapters.**

**WOW though, that took _FOREVER_ to write. I'm starting to feel for you other writers out there. If you're wondering about anything, just PM me or ask in a review! I'd also like to thank my sister for being my beta even though I _wasn't _that bad. I plan to have the whole Team Prime back together in the next chapter, but not Prime himself, of course, because as you all know, he's _dead_ after the movie _Predicons Rising,_ which was super sad. :( ****Also I'm super happy that there's going to be a new series following TFP, which is currently the only series I've watched, YAYYYY!**

**ANYWAY, i should talk about more of my story. The people(bots) that i'll include in Team Prime are Wheeljack, Arcee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Miko, Jack, Raf, Knock Out, and some other bots. I hope it's clear that GoldTaint and Crookedjaw are kids/sparklings, I know they are like one year old, but it is possible that Cybertronians mature faster. I wouldn't really know. There are other sparklings (a lot of others), it's just that I haven't included them in the picture yet (If you know what I mean). **

**Oh, I almost forgot, i learned that you _CAN _put pictures in your story (AWESOME) so I'll try and get pictures in (that I've made of course(don't wanna infringe copyright)). I am a good drawer I think, but don't flame if they aren't as good as you might want. I ****probably will edit my last chapters for the pictures (once I get them done and stuff) but I will let you know in the upcoming chapters if i got a picture in :). One more thing I'd like to say is that I will probably post a new chapter every week/week and a half.****  
><strong>

**TILL NEXT TIME MY FELLOW READERS! :D**


	2. Part 2

**Heyo everyone! I'd like to thank DesendraRecess and Metroplex Supreme for the awesome comments. Metroplex I really did not realize I spelled _Decepticons _wrong( (._.)that's pretty embarrassing for myself, though). Hahaha, my older sister is yelling at herself for not seeing that it was spelled wrong. I love my sister, she's so funny. Anyway, thanks Metroplex for the notice, and I'll let you guys know if I get sick of making OCs.**

** This is part two to the New Beginning. You know, like how episodes are made, the first three to five episodes/chapters are like one whole story all together. I might do a part two or three for every new ****chapter I make to make it more ... interesting with cliffhangers, and all. So ... ON WITH PART TWO! :D**

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><p>Bulkhead jogged over to one side of a skeleton-like building that was still in construction. "What do you guys think you're doing?" he yelled at two Veticons that were pulling a metal panel off the building. "You're supposed to <em>b<em>_uild _the skyscrapers, not tear them down!"

A third Veticon that held a comm pad, obviously a engineer, ran over to Bulkhead. "Sir, we just have detected a energon leak in the pipes between these panels. That's why we are taking this panel off; for repairs."

Bulkhead grumbled something under his breath. "Okay, one; do _not_ call me sir ever again—" he began, walking over to help the Veticons take the panel off the building.

"—And two, be careful taking that panel off; one wrong move and the _whole _building comes down! You know buildings are delicate at this stage of construction." The green mech grabbed a side of the panel. "Here let me do it for you _noobies_." Bulkhead grabbed the other side of the panel in a "T" shape when the Veticons backed away. He slowly lifted the panel off the panels around it._ Careful ... careful ... careful ... one small jerk in the wrong direction and a week's worth of work comes down,_ Bulkhead thought to himself.

"SIR, SIR!" Bulkhead jumped and nearly hit another panel with his one. He let out a sigh of relief before setting his panel down all the way, then turned around to see the Veticon with the comm pad. "You again? I thought I told you to _not _call me "sir"! Do you understand?"

The Veticon wasn't paying attention to what Bulkhead said but was looking at his comm pad and tapping the screen here and there. "Sir, I believe that someone has comm-linked you a message." The Veticon looked up and handed the comm pad to Bulkhead. "Here sir, oh, and the panel to your right is the one you have to bring down for the energon leak."

Bulkhead scowled. Did this guy know when to stop? He looked at the tiny screen of the comm pad. The message was from Wheeljack, but for system check the message required a scan of the reader's optics. After the scan was done, Bulkhead gently tapped the screen to open the message (Bulkhead has to tape gently because he has his big fingers and all; the comm pad looks tiny in his hands, too) and a new screen popped up on the pad showing symbols that represented Cybertronian words.

The huge mech read the little words._ Come over to Macerol City for a party__, I know you need the break. You know where to find my place.__  
><em>

Bulkhead deleted the message but kept the pad from the annoying little Veticon.

The idea of hanging out with Jackie was overwhelming, but now that he thought about it, the idea seemed like the best in the universe._ But who'd keep these __veticons in check while I'm gone?_ The dark green robot thought. As soon as the thought came though, an answer was already waiting for Bulkhead in the recesses of his mind. _Grapple._

Grapple was the obvious choice; he was harsh, but not too harsh; serious, but not too serious; and was strict, but not too strict. Bulkhead quickly sent a message to Grapple. _Going away for the day, probably the next too. Want to Sparkling-sit my __veticons? _Bulkhead knew the reply would be a yes; Grapple would take any chance to be the boss of someone. After that, Bulkhead sent a message back to Wheeljack to let him know he was coming.

The mech handed the comm pad to the Veticon who waited patiently nearby. "Thank you sir," it said.

Bulkhead couldn't help but scowl. "Fine, you win. You'll be in charge until Grapple gets here to shove your sorry behinds around!" He snarled before transforming into his vehicle mode and driving away, leaving the veticon in a cloud of metal-dust.

The Veticon cocked its head. It didn't know what it did to make "Sir" so angry, so it shrugged in an "oh-well" gesture before pointing at two Veticons and directing them to take off the right panel this time.

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><p>Miko was sitting on the edge of Wheeljack's now clean desk looking around at the walls of the big room. She swung her legs back and forth over the edge and hummed to herself.<p>

"Hey, Miko!" A voice called from below. Miko looked down to see Raf trying to push a piece of scrap metal. Jack was standing by Raf, looking up at her with his hands cupped over his mouth to broadcast his voice. "You wanna come down and help a little?"

Miko shook her head. "No, I wanna see Bulkhead first." She looked back up and stared intensely at the door that lead outside.

"Look Miko, I know you miss Bulkhead and all, but I think you should come down and help, if just a little?"

Miko sighed. _Might as well,_ the girl thought. She was getting bored anyway. Miko stood up and walked over to another side of the desk where a thin pipe-like cybertronian sword leaned against the desk. She hopped on the front tip of the sword and carefully slid down to the floor. As soon as she reached the hilt of the sword, she jumped off onto the grayish-silver floor.

Miko ran over to Jack and Raf to help them push their piece of metal into a pile that Arcee and Wheeljack had already began. Once they had shifted the piece next to the pile, Miko sat down on the ground, her legs streched out in front of her.

"Wow, that was actually harder than I expected," she panted. Raf plopped down next to her, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm exhausted."

Jack put his hands on his hips, and looked at the pair unsympathetically. "Come on guys, a little workout isn't bad. Besides, I think we could use a bit of exertion; ever since Cybertron was restored, we haven't really done anything."

Miko rolled her eyes at Jack. "I'd say I've had a good workout walking home from school everyday."

Raf looked up at Jack blearily. "Same," he said with some effort.

Miko sat up straighter, emboldened by the younger boy's support. "Yeah, and you always had your mom to pick you up, so it's really _you _who needed the workout, not us."

Jack frowned. "Are you trying to get out of cleaning?"

Miko smiled and shook her head, sending her pigtails flying around her face. "Now why would you think that?"

Jack's facial expression struggled to stay neutral, but he couldn't help but smile. "I don't know, you are after all, _the _Miko_." _

Miko scrunched up her nose as she scowled. "Ha ha ha, very funny." Miko stood up abruptly and walked away to find something else to do.

Before she got very far, Miko jerked her head up in surprise; she could hear the sound of an engine from outside slowly getting louder as it came closer. _Who'd be out at this time of night?_ she wondered before pausing to stare intently at the door._ Wait a minute, I know that sound!_ Miko ran for the door.

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><p>Bulkhead drove down the street in his vehicle form. It had taken him awhile to drive all the way to Macerol City, but he had made it. Bulkhead knew he was close to Wheeljack's condo given the fact he recognized the street he was on. He turned at the corner onto a sloping street, the summit of which Wheeljack's condo was perched. His friend's home was near the space where all the sparklings were kept in large, sky-reaching buildings that extended higher than most of the others in the city. It made it very easy to get to the general area of Wheejack's condo. This area was very unlike the bending, twisting, and complex streets in Kaon where skyscrapers towered over bots, casting long, dark shadows.<p>

Bulkhead slowed down his speed, and transformed back into his original form when he just was outside of the entrance to Wheeljack's small condo. The Wrecker stepped up to the door, and precariously trailed his fingers over a glowing pad, tapping in the access code. He heard the door give a click, and then slide open to reveal the condo's interior.

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><p>Miko saw the door open, and stopped in her tracks as someone stepped in from outside.<p>

_ Could it be? _she asked herself. Then, she rubbed her eyes to see if they were playing tricks on her. However, there was no denying the very familiar-looking bot. _It IS,_ Miko chanted joyfully in her head, looking up with an ecstatic expression on her face. Before Miko could shout the bot's name, though, she heard Bulkhead exclaim, "Jackie!"

Wheeljack stood up from where he was organizing some swords on a rack. "Hey, Bulkhead, long time no s—" Before Weeljack could finish his greeting, he was pulled into a big bear hug from Bulkhead, and lifted off the ground. "How are you, buddy?" Wheeljack managed to choke out when Bulkhead finally set him down.

"Aw, I'm okay. Work's been hard though; Veticons are so thick headed, you know." Bulkhead said jauntily, grinning at the lither autobot.

Miko crossed her arms and gave a huff; Bulkhead hadn't even noticed her yet! "HEY, THICK HEAD!" Miko shouted angrily up to the green mech.

Bulkhead looked down from where the voice came from and saw Miko. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bulkhead yelled, jumping about twenty feet in the air. Bulkhead paused for a moment in his shock, and examined the tiny creature more closely. "Wait, Miko? Is that you?"

Miko managed to roll her eyes. "No, I'm the pizza delivery guy, what do you think?"

Bulkhead laughed and scooped up Miko for her own bear hug.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" Miko screeched, waving her arms in the air. "It's REALLY great to see you and all, but I don't want to be squeezed into a paper clip right now."

Bulkhead nodded and grinned sheepishly. "Heh heh, sorry about that." He gingerly set her back down on the floor, and the girl ran over to hug his huge foot. "I really missed you, you know."

Bulkhead looked down at her affectionately. "I missed you, too."

Miko stared up at Bulkhead for a few moments before a wicked grin spread across her face. "By the way, didn't you scream like a little girl when you saw me?"

If it were possible, Bulkhead would've flushed. "I-I-I thought you were a scraplet with your dark colored oxygen suit and all."

Miko just stared at him, and blinked a few times. "Really?" She looked down at her apparel.

Just then, Arcee walked in from a doorway that led to Wheeljack's office, (which was occupied by Ratchet at the moment) and paused upon taking in the scene. "Hey," she said to Bulkhead, smiling a bit at the human girl firmly attached to the bot's foot.

"Hi," he greeted back, not looking up as he hastily tried to get Miko off his foot by giving it a little shake.

* * *

><p>A little while later, after Bulkhead had settled down to let Miko tell him what had happened with her over the year on Earth, Bumblebee arrived then with Ultra Magnus.<p>

"Hey, Bee!" Raf shouted happily as he ran over to greet him.

Bumblebee looked down, and smiled when he saw Raf. "Hey Raf, what's up?" Raf slowed down to let Bumblebee pick him up and place him on his shoulder.

"Not much has happened on Earth, especially when compared to what's happening over here. When school ended for summer vacation, my mom signed me up to take summer school over the whole break. Things got pretty boring from there," Raf explained. "Now, school has started again and I'm getting better grades than I did last year, thankfully."

Bee nodded. "It's great that you have good grades."

Wheeljack walked stiffly over to Ultra Magnus. "How's it going?" he asked, shaking Ultra Magnus's non-clawed hand firmly.

"Well, the council has been rough, and we've had some tough cases to deal with, but thank Primus they're done now."

Arcee was propped up against the desk while Jack stood on top of it, watching the scene before them play out. "So it looks like just about everyone's here now, except Smokescreen. What are we going to do when he arrives and they're all assembled?" Jack asked, breaking the silence between them.

Arcee shrugged. "I don't really know, I think I'm just going to take you all to a local night club or something." Jack looked at her with horror and shock, and the autobot quickly realized what Jack was thinking. "Oh, no, it's not like the night clubs you have back on Earth; sparklings go to our night club all the time." Jack nodded, relieved that it was the sort of place that was appropriate for kids like Raf.

A large whirring sound came from outside that interrupted everyones' activity in the room, even Ratchet, who had come into the now rather crowded space. Wheeljack strode over and opened his front door a little bit to peek outside. There was a moment of silence and then . . .

"IS THAT MY JET?" The bot shouted angrily over the whirring sound, slamming the door open and rushing outside. Everyone walked out behind him to see a jet landing on the street. The vehicle gave a loud _thump _as it hit the ground, then the ramp towards its rear fell open. Out of the jet came a large, easily recognizable white figure.

"SMOKESCREEN?" Weeljack shouted. "YOU STOLE MY SHIP?"

Smokescreen swerved his head over to see Wheeljack as he stomped down the ramp of the ship. He laughed. "Oh, this was _your _ship? I didn't notice." The white bot stepped of the ramp, unaffected by Wheeljack's fury.

"It has my _name _on it!" Wheeljack spat, quickly closing the distance between him and the bot.

Smokescreen put his hands up in the air in a "stop" gesture. "Woah, slow down there! Technically, I didn't steal your ship; I was only _borrowing _it."

Wheeljack crossed his arms. "Okay then, where did you take the _borrowed _ship to?"

Smokescreen grinned. "I went to a lot of places, actually." The white mech then started listing everywhere he had taken the "borrowed" ship. "Okay, so first we went to the sea of rust, then we visited Shockwave—he's been helping the Predicon Kingdom, and we were captured for a few days for coming across Predicon territory, but Shockwave got us out—anyways, after that we visited a bunch of cities and I met some pretty cool femmes, and on our last visit, when you guys comm-linked me, we went to—"

Smokescreen was then interrupted by Arcee, who stared at Smokescreen quizzically. "Wait, why do you keep saying '_we'_ and_ 'us'_?"

Smokescreen looked around as if he were searching for something, or someone. Clarity dawned on his features suddenly, and he face-palmed. "Silly me, I left him inside. Be right back." The white mech ran into the ship and came back out a few moments later dragging a red mech by the wheels on his back. The hapless bot's feet made screeching sounds as they were dragged down the metal ramp.

Ratchet groaned, and initiated his own face-palm as he lowered his head. "Knockout, you brought _Knockout?_" He exclaimed incredulously.

Smokescreen shrugged as he set Knockout on his feet. "He was traveling with me and I couldn't just leave him where we were when Wheeljack comm-linked. Besides he's been quiet ever since we turned towards here, so you guys don't have to worry about him chattering all night long." Smokescreen patted Knockout on the back. The red bot was unresponsive though, staring at the ground and lost in thought.

Ratchet rolled his optics, and muttered something about Smokescreen's chatter being the real problem.

Bulkhead looked at Knockout curiously. "Where did you guys go before Wheeljack linked you?" Smokescreen leaned against his ship partner, and rested his arm on Knockout's shoulder. "Knockout here wanted to go to his hometown. It's pretty small and banged up from the war but not in too bad a condition. Ever since we arrived at the lab he used to run when he was younger, Knockout has been pretty quiet."

Knockout lifted his head, noticing that everyone was staring at him. He blinked a couple times, but stayed silent, and looked down at the ground again.

"ANYWAY. . .?" Miko said breaking the silence. The girl looked very bored with Smokescreen's tale, her arms crossed and tapping her foot. Bulkhead nodded, silently agreeing that it was time to get a move on. "Let's get over to that nightclub."

* * *

><p>Before they were a block away from their intended destination, Jack could hear the music. At first, it sounded like a soft hum, but as he drove closer on Arcee, it gradually got louder, and by the time they were at the club's entrance, the music was a roar. Jack got off of Arcee and she abruptly transformed. The blue mech picked up Jack and placed him on her shoulder before she walked through the entrance. The others followed after Arcee and Jack and abruptly split up to trail over to different areas of the club.<p>

Miko, Bulkhead and Wheeljack went to the back of the night club where a lob ball court was unoccupied. "Wanna lob?" Bulkhead asked Wheeljack.

"Any day." Wheeljack replied, flashing a grin as they entered the court. Bulkhead set Miko down on the ground before crouching down in a ready stance. The other bot easily grasped the scrappy ball sitting on the side of the court, and heaved it at his friend. The dark green autobot deftly caught it and rolled the heavy object in his hands with a triumphant smirk before launching the ball back over.

Bumblebee and Smokescreen moved to the dance floor, sliding in to dance with the other bots already there while Raf sat on Bumblebee's shoulder, and listened to the strange Cybertronian music. The closest thing the boy could compare it to was a mix of Earthern rock and electric, but only with instrumental sounds. Raf found himself tapping his foot along to the beat.

"You guys don't have a bad taste in music!" Raf shouted to Bee over the blaring song. The yellow mech laughed. "Of course, why wouldn't we?"

Ratchet, Arcee, Jack, Ultra Magnus, and Knockout quickly found and sat at a table to the side of the club. Arcee and Jack watched Smokescreen and Bumblebee dancing. The pair ducked in and out of sight as the slowly growing crowd of dancers maneuvering around each other. Jack turned his head over to Arcee. "Wanna go and dance?" He asked.

Arcee looked over at him with a twinkle in her optic. "I thought you'd never ask," she said smoothly. They both got up, Arcee picking her human friend and hoisting him on her shoulder before striding over to the pulsing dance floor.

At the table, Ratchet stared down at the comm pad in his hands, trying to ignore the loud music that rung in his ears. He did not seem to notice when the number of bots/humans at the table went from five down to three.

Arcee kept close to Smokescreen and Bumblebee, the only familiar bots on the floor. Bots crowded around, and even a few sparklings were even dancing here and there, moving in closely knit dance circles with their fellows that varied from size to size. White lights from above flashed brightly, moving in time with the beat. Even below their feet, the floor glowed colorfully.

Arcee looked over at Smokescreen, and widened her optics as she noticed something about him. "You changed your paint back to white!" She exclaimed over the music.

Smokescreen smiled and nodded, pleased. "At least someone noticed!"

Arcee tilted her head. "Why did you change it?" she asked.

Smokescreen stopped dancing for a moment as if to think about it, his head cocked to the side. "Well, let's say Knockout told me I looked better like this." Arcee laughed as Smokescreen started moving again under the pulsing white lights.

Miko cheered on Bulkhead as he lobbed the metal lump full speed at Wheeljack. _Man, I wish I had the Apex Armor right about now. then I'd show them who can really lob, _Miko thought wistfully as Wheeljack caught the ball, long arms extending around the scrappy object as his feet skidded across the court a few yards back from point of impact.

"Is that the best you got, Bulkhead?" Wheeljack jeered, flexing his fingers against the ball.

Wheeljack's opponent scoffed,"I thought you _wanted _me to go easy on you."

The white bot sneered at him. "You lobbed that ball like you were going easy on a _sparkling_."

Miko perked up from where she was sitting as the two exchanged taunts. _This just got a whole lost more __interesting,_ she thought to herself, flexing her toes with excitement.

Knockout stared down at his cupped, claw-like hands, deep in thought. Looking up from his comm-pad, Ratchet narrowed his optics at Knockout. C_ould he get anymore annoying?_ Ratchet scowled as Knockout looked up from his hands to stared at Ratchet with an innocent expression. Y_es, yes he can. _But instead of giving his attention back to the device in his hand, he looked over to Ultra Magnus, who was looking at his own comm-pad.

"So how is it working with the council?" Ratchet asked, trying to start a conversation. Things had been quiet at the table since Arcee and Jack left.

Ultra Magnus tilted his head towards Ratchet, focusing his optics on him. "Well, first of all, it's harder than you think, being part of the council."

Ratchet crossed his arms. "Try me," he challenged.

Ultra Magnus sighed and rubbed his optics. "For example, the council takes _forever _to make simple decisions."

Ratchet snorted. "I had to live with Smokescreen _all _day during the war. Nothing can be worse than that!"

Ultra Magnus nodded thoughtfully. "True, but we had Starscream come before the council, and I can tell you he was the whiniest bot I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!"

Ratchet laughed and looked at Ultra Magnus curiously. "So, what happened to him?"

Magnus looked around to make sure no bot was near their table to listen in, and when the quiet red mech beside him was the only one present, Magnus leaned forward. "He was charged guilty with all the charges against him . . . including murder."

Ratchet frowned, remembering how Team Prime had found out that Cliffjumper's spark was ripped out by Starscream. "He got what he deserved," Ratchet growled, narrowed his optics.

Ultra Magnus nodded, but his expression looked grievous. "However, after he was put in a protected cell on the lower parts of Cybertron, something happened." He looked around again hastily, his body tense. "The next day, when they came to give Starscream some energy, they found nothing in the cell." Ratchet thought he saw Knockout cock his head on the edge of his vision, but dismissed the tiny movement. "Nothing?" He asked, filled with morbid horror.

"Nothing," Magnus repeated.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. Just wow. This chapter took forever!<strong>

**I am s_o _sorry this chapter took forever to get up and posted. I have like a million excuses, mainly my sister****! She'd took _forever _to getting around to looking over this chapter. Ugh, sometimes I hate her, but then, my chapters wouldn't look as nice as they do without her, so I have to put up with the fact she has fanfiction of her own to update, plus a bunch of other things she thinks is more important than my story. - MY SIS PUT that IN! -.- she. will. pay.**

**I have some good news though, one is that this story is _way_longer then I intended it to be(4,000 words!), so there is plenty of material for you guys to mull over. I wanted it to end with everyone being back on Earth, but it just got too long. I decided to change up things a bit because of that, just to make sure everything doesn't suddenly happen all at once.**

**And, well, I haven't figured how to paste pictures on here yet. Oh well, maybe I'll have to give up on that. If it _is _possible to paste pictures onto a chapter, I would appreciate instructions! :3**

**Until we meet next week, or in the next several weeks, or whenever it is that I manage to get my sister to edit my next chapter. -sigh- Anyway, thank you all, and I hope you enjoyed!**

**Note from GPA (Guestpersonanonymous), the sister and editor of HockeyStar31: Yeah, it's totally all my fault that this chapter didn't get out as fast as it should. I try to make my schoolwork a priority, then my role-playing posts, then my own fanfiction, and my sister's work ends up getting neglected. **

**I'm glad that she has the patience to let me edit her work, though, because she still has a thing or two to learn about paragraph organization and grammar. I also feel she needs to do a little more "show, don't tell", but that's what we have you reviewers for! I would appreciate it a lot if you could take time out of your day to write up a review. Don't be afraid to offer my sister tips on how to improve her writing; that's why we're here in the first place. - Awww, your so sweet GPA**

**I have started watching the Transformers Prime series on my sister's insistence, so I now am able to more easily relate to these characters I previously knew nothing about. **

**GPA: I hope that you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I did!**

**HS: See you next time! :3**


	3. Part 3

_**GPA: Hey guys, Guestpersonanonymous here to give you all an important note before we begin this chapter: from now on, any comments I have to make OOC will be in bold italics, so I no longer have to do the silly GPA: whatever I want to say H: whatever Hockey wants to say back. Hockey will speak in bold, likewise. **_

**Words words and more words! Read on . . . IF YOU DARE! **

_**-cue dramatic music-**_

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><p>The soft rumble of an engine stirred Raf into consciousness. His eyes fluttered open, and the young human boy squinted in the darkness of his surroundings as they adjusted. The boy trailed a hand across the smooth leather seat he was sitting on, and along the frame of the door. It didn't take him but a few moments to determine where he was. "Bee? Where are we going?" The slight-framed boy was perched on his seat in the back, his gaze landing on the vacant driver's seat and the steering wheel turning left and right as Raf's autobot friend steered down what looked like a highway.<p>

"Oh, sorry Raf. I didn't mean to wake you." Raf tried rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them, but was presently reminded he was wearing a oxygen suit because the air on Cybertron was toxic. "It's okay, but I wanted to ask; where are we both going?" Raf asked again.

"We aren't the only ones going somewhere, for starters. Arcee and Bulkhead are transporting Jack and Miko next to us." Clambering over his seat, Raf drew his body up to look out the window. At that moment, a sleek, dark blue motorcycle whirled past, reflecting all the splendor of the glowing and interchanging lights all around them. Raf caught a glimpse of Jack, sporting the same suit that Raf had, speeding past on the motorcycle's back. Trailing behind the swift black and yellow muscle car was the more bulky green vehicle that Raf knew had to be Bulkhead.

Raf nodded,"So, where _are _we going?"

Bumblebee swerved around a slower vehicle before answering, "At the nightclub you guys fell asleep, so the rest of us went back to Wheeljack's place. You three slept for another couple of hours before Ratchet told us that your oxygen suits were low on air and you had to get back to Earth."

Raf's heart plummeted, and he turned away from the window. "We're going back home?" He asked, saddened at the thought of leaving his friend's planet.

"I'm sorry Raf, but we'll see each other again sometime. And that's a promise; it's not like I'm going anywhere!"

Raf smiled and nodded, although he still felt disappointed internally.

"Now go back to sleep," Bumblebee instructed gently. "The space bridge in Macerol broke down, so we are going to another one in a city called Lavan. It'll be a long drive yet."

Raf nodded again, then laid his head against the door frame. "'Night, Bee," he mumbled before closing his eyes.

After a beat of silence, the yellow and black mech murmured, "Goodnight Raf, I'll miss you."

* * *

><p><strong>About 20,000 years later . . . just kidding! This is like, four months later :P<strong>

* * *

><p><em>BeepbeepbeepbeepBEEP! <em>Miko groaned, her face contorting as her conscious struggled to awaken. _I__s it morning already? _She wondered incredulously. The girl groped for a pillow, and thrust it blindly in the direction of the irritating noise. A satisfactory thump and then prolonged silence told Miko she'd managed to successfully hit the offending alarm clock off of its stand. Groaning, she buried her face into her remaining pillow.

The lights in her room suddenly flashed on as Miko's host mother opened the door. Rebelliously, Miko thrust her sheets over her head to prevent the light from being a deterrent to sleep. "Miko!" The harshly whispered voice of the woman exclaimed. "Get up, it's time for school!" Footsteps receding away from her told Miko she was alone again, but she found the lack of oxygen beneath her blanket to be distracting. And the lights were still on.

Miko groaned once more before finally rolling out of bed. She pulled off her pajamas and threw them onto the floor, and then scurried to her closet. Pulling back the door frame, she yanked out a her usual outfit; a shirt with a tank top thrown over it, jeans, and a bright yellow, plastic belt. Miko pulled her garments on and ran out of her room. Hastily, she skidded into a turn and raced down the hall. "Miko! Hurry up, you're going to miss the bus!"

"I'm coming!" Miko managed to puff out before she streaked into the kitchen. With the deftness of someone who's done it millions of times before, Miko snatched a pop tart, stuffed in her mouth, laced her arms through the straps of her waiting backpack, and burst out the front door.

Miko jogged out to her bus stop, where people were already getting onto the faded yellow bus that rested beside the curb. Miko loped up to the back of the neat little line and huffed impatiently.

"Come on, you slow pokes, we haven't got all day," she muttered under her breath. Just as the words left her mouth, a kid stepping onto the bus tripped, and dropped his backpack, its contents spilt all over the curb. Miko gave a long groan. Today was going to be one of _those _days, she could feel it.

A few hours later, Miko was walking towards her third period class, Science. The girl bunched up her shoulders at the prospect of sitting through long boring lectures about the differences between rocks. Like she cared. Miko walked into the room and sat down at her desk.

Miko did straighten a bit when a familiar face appeared in the doorway, and she waved to Jack as he took his seat behind her. "How's it going?" She quipped.

"Shhh!" A student that sat next to her exclaimed, placing a finger on his lips. Miko huffed in annoyance but turned her attention to the front of the classroom where the teacher stood up from his desk. The lightly built man was cleaning his glasses on the end of his shirt, but when the bell rang signaling the start of the period, he leaned over to place the glasses on the edge of his desk. Then, he eased his swivel chair over to grab a book from an assorted pile cluttered his desk.

"Okay, class, take out your textbooks and turn them to page-" Miko would never hear what page she was supposed to turn to, because at that moment, a distressed-looking intern burst into the room. He panted heavily, and looked like he had been running all over the school, which might very well have been the case. He pushed his brown hair out of his face as he spared a few moments to lean against the doorframe. Finally, he glanced back up at the class, which had become utterly silent with anticipation.

"Turn on the TV!" He gasped, gesturing wildly at the old model hanging off the wall in the front corner. It was normally used to watch documentaries, but Miko got the feeling that this wouldn't be the case now. "Switch to any available news station!" Then, the man rushed out of the doorway, and into the hall, most likely to carry his message to the next classroom over. Shakily, the teacher reached over to grab the black remote, and a distinct beeb was heard as he pressed the power button. Everyone swiveled in their seats to stare at the small screen of the television.

Miko inadvertently gasped as the screen flickered to life, bringing into view an unbelievable sight. Around her, she heard some others give similar cries of surprise, including Jack. The screen flickered, switching to the grimly serious face of a female reporter. Red hair framed her delicate face, but what Miko noticed most was the woman's makeup, hastily placed and only partially done. "I am Sherri Renston, reporting live in New York City, and I am about to deliver, alongside numerous other reporters and stations, the news story of a century." Sherri turned away from the camera to gesture to something above her. The camera panned upwards to follow her motion, and revealed the object that had incited so many surprised reactions from the class before; a huge ship that hovered in the air. It was huge, with thick, long wings supporting the mainframe, and various advanced-looking projectile-weapons hanging from its belly, protruding from its side, and mounted on its top. The whole ship was various shades of black, dark gray, and purple. Silently, it hovered above the city, casting a dark shadow across it, the depticon warship.

"The people we've interviewed say they saw a glowing, green and blue ring of light appear in the sky, and shortly afterwards, this strange UFO emerged. People all over the area are waiting to see what the alien craft-and whatever is inside it-has in store for us," Sherri continued as the camera came back down to her face."Reportedly, thousands of people have made efforts to flee from New York, and we have received intelligence telling us there are many cases of increased traffic jams and abandoned vehicles all over the city." The camera shifted down the street that Sherri and her crew were stationed at. The audience was greeted with the sight of an abandoned street, full of lifeless cars. Abruptly, the view cut from the camera in the street to one probably mounted in a helicopter over a highway leading out of the city; cars occupied every inch, and streaming around the hapless vehicles, there were masses of people rushing to get away from the warship, some even carrying luggage and belongings. Miko could make the shapes of officials trying to direct the traffic, and was distinctly relieved to see that there was some headway being made; most of the people that had reached that point were apparently less likely to abandon their vehicles, preventing traffic from reaching complete and utter standstills.

Miko turned around in her seat to look at Jack questionably, but Jack only shrugged uncertainly at her gaze. "Billions are probably watching this feed at this very moment to see what the-" Shirri's voice trailed off as static suddenly resonated from the TV, and Sherri's voice was cut off; you could see Sherri's lips moving but no words could be heard coming from her. She looked away from the camera as someone off-screen said something, and Sherri looked up at the sky in surprise.

The camera instantly jerked towards the warship as the static cut off. If it was quiet before, it was dead silent in the classroom now as everyone stared at the screen. The sound of yelling and footsteps off-camera that had been accompanying the feed the whole time had disappeared, suggesting that even the city had fallen into silence. It was like Earth was holding its breath. Miko shivered, knowing something bad was going to have to happen next. Something very, very bad.

* * *

><p><strong>You know . . . this would be a GREAT place to end Part 3! I'd be SO evil, but I know you guys would probably freak on me if I did, and plus, <strong>**this is only 1,100 words so . . . let's keep going!**

_**Oh please, this wouldn't even be a proper chapter if you stopped here. Plus, you know how long it takes for us to write chapters, so pulling a gimmick like that would be twice as annoying. Anyway, random snarky comments aside, allow me to bring you back to the story!**_

* * *

><p>Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing as a familiar silver and red mech suddenly replaced the previous image of the decepticon ship, and appeared on the screen of the TV. The lithe mech wore a crooked smile, and began to speak in a smooth voice, full of his usual arrogance. "I am Starscream, commander of the Decepticons, lowly Earthlings, and I am here to give you this message; surrender now and hail me as your ruler. If you do this, I will allow you and your planet to continue to exist." Jack flipped up the screen of his phone to call his mother. However, to his total surprise, he found he couldn't because Starscream's face covered the screen, smiling sadistically.<em> They must have broadcasted a feed to all electronic devices capable of transmitting it, <em>Jack thought. _Even i__f we hadn't turned on the TV, it would've turned_ on,_ anyway._

"And, if you refuse-" Starscream paused to smile deviously as he allowed the humans to conclude what the end result of that situation would be. Jack's blood ran cold as he stared at the mech on his cell phone screen. "You all will cease to exist. Resistance is futile, and there is no place that you can hide from us. To demonstrate our superior power as your future masters, we will now open fire on one of your most densely populated cities as you look on, able to do _nothing._" That was the last thing the commander said before the TV went static, having apparently lost the feed, and abruptly returned to Sherri's now pale face. It was obvious she'd seen the same message from Starscream.

Sherri looked at the camera and squeaked to the cameraman, having completely dropped her act. "Should we run?"

Before anyone could say or do anything, vehicons appeared from the top of the ship in the sky. They abruptly began to rain down, jumping off the warship, and transforming into sleek black and purple jets. They came screaming down from the sky, and began opening fire. People unfortunate to still be this close to center of the city screamed in terror as some of the vehicons diverted to crash down onto the street. The force of their impact sent chunks of gravel, dust and dirt everywhere. By the time it all settled the vehicons had already transformed back into their normal modes, and pulled out their gamma guns.

People screamed, and ran for their lives as the vehicons walked down the street, shooting at anything that moved. Sherri looked at the camera screen once more as the oncoming vehicons walked closer. Her voice broke as she struggled to deliver a final line to the audience. "This is Reporter Sherri Renston, signing off! If you are still within New York City's perimeter, use any means possible to get out!" Sherri looked behind her as the robots moved closer. "Run, Henry! Run!" She screamed. The camera swung wildly to show the ground as the man handling it thrust under his arm, and ran with it. The camera swung back and forth as the man, Henry, ran from the Vehicons.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom, and the television screen went static.

Everyone was silent in the classroom as they gawked at the static screen.

"Oh my God," someone finally said, breaking the silence. Then an announcement abruptly came over the speaker on the wall, the voice on the intercom low and devoid of life. "Everyone is to attend to classes regularly . . . despite r-recent events." As if on cue, the class slowly rose from their seats and grabbed their bags, binders, and books, and then stiffly walked out the door to the halls of the school. Miko didn't feel the slightest bit enthusiastic at being able to miss out on the Science lecture.

Millions of questions whirled through Miko's head as she walked down the hall. _Why does Starscream need Earth for?__ How Starscream did get to Earth? Why did he threaten the human race-and who does he think he is? _However, new questions sprouted up before Miko could think of answering the previous ones, questions she probably could've answered if she put some thought into it.

Realization and growing horror dawned on Miko as a more important question soared over all the others, though._ Where is Team Prime?_

* * *

><p>Jack was walking home with Miko and Rafael. His mom had an extra shift at work so he decided to accompany his two friends on their way home. The walk was a long and silent one, until Raf looked up at Jack and asked. "Jack? What do you think is going to happen?"<p>

Jack sighed and lowered his head, shaking it ever so slightly. "I don't know, we can't do anything all the way here in Jasper, Nevada. Starscream knows where we live though, which means we're basically sitting ducks," the boy said grimly.

Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, a red sports car with yellow-rimmed wheels drove up to rest beside the sidewalk that they walked on. The doors on the side facing them swung open, a clear gesture for the three children to climb in. "You might want to cross _being __sitting ducks _off you and the other humans' list of things to do," the car said drily.

"Knockout," Jack growled, pulling Raf behind him. Miko raised her fists, and crouched into a defensive stance. "Is that really necessary?" Knockout asked in annoyance. "I'm here to pick you humans up, and bring you back to base."

Miko lowered her fists a little, but still kept them up. "How are we supposed to know if you're with the autobots and not the decepticons?" She asked suspiciously.

Jack heard Knockout laugh derisively. "Well, I have three reasons to support the fact I am very much on your side. First, if I was here to kidnap you, I would've simply transformed, snatched you up, and simply driven off with you." Jack and Rafael exchanged a look, and the younger boy stepped out from behind Jack, but Miko only snorted. "I doubt it, you probably would take the easier way out by doing _this _and tricking us so as to not risk ruining your _finish."_

The red car's engine lowered to a growling tempo, depicting Knockout's increasing annoyance. "Don't think for one nano-klick that I enjoy talking to you and your kind. If I didn't have as much patience, I'd probably teach you a lesson here and now about learning to think before opening your mouth," Knockout snarled. His engine continued to growl angrily for a few moments before he continued. "Second of all, Arcee threatened that if I came back to base with nothing less than all three of you, she'd rip out my spark. She clearly stressed how important it was to protect you at all costs, and blah blah blah."

Raf frowned at the red car. "Protect us? You mean we need to be protected from something?" Knockout scoffed. "That would be reason number three."

Miko rolled her eyes,"Now, I've seen everything-Knockout _protecting us, psssh_." Jack looked at Raf, who seemed to agree with Miko, nodding thoughtfully and casting a doubtful glance at the ex-decepticon. Knockout's rearview mirror tilted towards the sky. "My proof seems to be heading our way right now, as it appears."

Jack looked up and saw seven Vehicons in a "V" flying pattern heading towards them. Miko gaped at the jets. "You mean Starscream wants us? Why would he want us? Why is he here anyway?" Miko asked, but before anyone could offer any suggestions, the mech beside them reminded them of something that should've been apparent immediately.

"Ahem," Knockout coughed. "If you want to stand around and be the center of a big crater inside Jasper, Nevada, that's fine by me. Just don't keep me waiting so I have to be part of it, too."

Jack saw the rapidly moving Vehicons had brought out missiles from beneath them, and readied them for fire. "Okay guys, we probably should get into the car," Jack told Miko and Raf. Knockout gave a huff as they finally clambered in, his engine's rumbling increasing in pitch as he prepared to speed away. Jack sat by the driver seat while Miko and Raf buckled up in the back.

"If he so much as _says _something remotely evil, I'm going all Miko on him," The girl growled before Knockout flattened the gas pedal, and sped off.

In no time the three kids, and former Decepticon were outside town. However, the Vehicons were still hot on their tail, and gaining on the red mech despite his best efforts to lose them.

"Smokescreen!" Knockout called over the comm link, "I'm going to need a ground bridge _now_, unless you want me and the humans to be vehicon chow."

Jack lean forward a bit to listen to what Smokescreen said back to Knockout."Okay, doesn't sound like anything out of the norm, I'mma send a bridge just a bit ahead of your current coordinates."

Then a green blue portal appeared, with a considerable stretch of open land between it and the mech. "A little closer would be nice!" Miko shouted. "And go_ faster_ Knockout, the Vehicons are catching up!"

Jack felt the temperature in the car rise, and could guess Knockout was beginning to feel stressed out. "You think I don't know that?!" Knockout exclaimed incredulously.

Miko crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue, ignorant to the mech's plight. "Well, _obviously_ you don't, 'cause the Vehicons are getting closer!I bet if it was Bulkhead who came to pick us up we would already be back at this new base no one ever told us got built! Why did you get sent-"

Raf was looking out the back window, ignorant to Miko's angry words. "Guys . . ." he whimpered. Jack turned around to see what he was looking at.

"-I mean come on, why Knockout!? You know, I bet Bulkhead would've already dealt with those Vehicons by shooting them down with his blasters!" Miko punctuated her statement by making her hand into a pistol, and then jerking her arm, as if shooting.

Jack pled to the All Spark that this would be over soon, that this entire day had just been some crazy, twisted dream complete with Vehicons, Knockout and Starscream's leering face. He'd wake up soon in his comfy bed back home.

Knockout sped straight toward the ground bridge, tearing up the distance them. J_ust a little more . . . only 15 mechanometers left . . . 10 . . . 5 . . . 3, 2-_Suddenly, the portal warped out of existence. Knockout almost slammed on his brakes, but a blast to the ground beside him reminded the mech that there were still Vehicons on his tailpipe. Knockout nearly swore, yelling "Smokescreen!" He activated his comm link, swerving away from the blast. "What in the Pit happened to that bridge?"

Miko's rant finally ended when the bridge disappeared, knowing full well that they were in real big trouble now.

Smokescreen's voice came over the comm link."I thought you wanted me to move it closer! Gah! it's so hard to work this computer, where's Ratchet when you need him?!"

Knockout cursed under his breath, and Miko face-palmed. "Smokescreen, you should've had it close to us in the first place! And where _is_ Ratchet!?"

Smokescreen said something, but no one could hear it over the loud boom that came out of nowhere.

"Guys!" Raf shouted after they cleared the flying dirt and gravel that had pelted them directly after the blast. "They're bombing us, the Vehicons are dropping missiles on us!"

Jack had to press his face against the car window to see the Vehicons again . . . who were right on top of them now.

Knockout barely dodged another missile as it fell in front of him, his tires screeching wildly. The teens inside were thrown roughly against the restraint of their seat-belts as the missile exploded, jerking the car sideways.

"Keep driving!" Jack shouted over the blasts and ringing in his ears, desperately trying to direct their patronage out of danger. "Turn right!" Knockout turned his wheels into a sharp turn which sent Miko, Raf and Jack leaning harshly to one side again.

"Into the canyon!" Jack shouted again, his eyes widening with hope as the large, natural structure loomed before them. As if to punctuate the fact that this development might be their only chance, a bomb landed to the side of Knockout.

Knockout drove into the narrow canyon, the red-orange cliffs pressing in from both sides. Jack looked up through the window quickly to see that the seven Vehicons had been forced to fly above the canyon, swerving out of range momentarily.

Jack's heart sunk though when he saw that up ahead, there was an end to the canyon.

"Great plan _human_, now we're trapped." Knockout spat.

"But can't we drive around?" Miko asked hopefully. Knockout only snorted,"If we turn around the Vehicons will be at the entrance of the canyon waiting for us, and if we keep driving through to the end of the canyon, the Vehicons will transform, fall in, and trap us."

Jack's face fell as Knockout comm-linked Smokescreen again. "Smokescreen, I'm sorry to interrupt whatever the frag you've been wasting your time with, but we need a ground bridge _now_!"

What sounded like a large crash projected from the other end of the link."Scrap!" The group heard Smokescreen yell. "Uh, Knockout, do we need this thingy-ma-bob?"

Knockout growled,"Just get us a fragging bridge, or believe me, I will resurrect myself, and stick you back in a wall, _permanently_!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh," Smokescreen mumbled from the other end of the comm link.

Jack's heart flipped when they reached the end of the canyon, and no portal formed. Knockout skidded to a stop, and cursed aloud. "Scrap!"

The Vehicons above the canyon transformed out of alt mode and dropped down onto the ground. When they landed, grit and sand went flying.

Miko gave a yelp when Knockout transformed, and the three humans were abruptly deposited on the ground. "OW," the girl groaned, rubbing her back as she sat up.

If Knockout heard her then he didn't seem to care, and turned to face the wing of Vehicons. "Stay put," He growled to the humans without looking back. He pulled out his energon-rod out of his back and with a crackle he activated it. Bolts of energon-blue bolts danced from its tip.

"Since when could he pull the prod out of his back?" Miko asked Raf and Jack, the pair of whom only shrugged.

One of the Vehicons leaped at Knockout and swung a uppercut punch at his face, but Knockout stepped to the side, easily dodging the would-be blow. Knockout laughed aloud, and thrust his rod forward into the 'con's chassis. The Vehicon's body jerked at the sudden surge of power, and then fell limp. Brutally, Knockout pulled the rod out, revealing a energon-splattered tip. His opponent abruptly crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Knockout smiled at his work, then narrowed his optics at the red sensor lights suddenly aimed at his chassis. The mech jerked his head up to see that the size remaining Vehicons had drawn their blasters. The mech crouched warily, and then abruptly sprang towards one side of the canyon. He twirled his prod over in his servo in a rapid blur, sending blue sparks flying everywhere. Knockout jumped onto the wall and pushed off of it expertly, twisting his body midair so he was poised to land against two of his enemies. Knockout stretched his prod out in front of himself before he crashed into the Vehicons. They flew across the ground in a spray of blue sparks and slammed into the canyon cliff on the other side.

Another Vehicon fired a round of blasts at the red mech as he landed. One of the blasts impacted with Knockout's arm, scorching a hole. Knockout blanched, and looked down in horror at the mess his arm was now. "_AIIIEEEEEE! _Look at what you did, you idiot slagger!"

The Vehicon took a step back, sensing the mistake that it had made as Knockout shot him a cold glare. "I just had that buffed!" He protested. Viciously, the red mech swung his prod around to point it at the Vehicon. "You'll pay for that!" Determined to see his statement carried out, the mech leapt up and sprinted towards the Vehicon, miraculously dodging fire from the rest of the Vehicons.

Jack, Miko and Raf watched the fight from behind a boulder.

"Wow, this fight is _so _rad! I need some pictures!" Miko exclaimed. However, when she tried to step out from behind the boulder to get a picture, someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"Miko, we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves," Jack hissed, keeping a firm grip on the younger girl.

"Aw, c'mon Jack, you're no fun!" Miko pouted, crossing her arms.

Meanwhile, Knockout examined the corpse of the now deceased Vehicon who had caused him so much grief. He sighed, and glanced at the rod in his servos, now dripping even more energon. "Well, I let myself go for a bit there, didn't I? Got to work on that." Knockout frowned, and then looked back up at the last three Vehicons. His frown disappeared. "Oh, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about _you_ three." The red mech leapt up and ran at the first two, energon prod ready.

Miko peeked over the edge of the boulder, anxious to see the battle, but was pulled down again by Jack. "Aw, Jack I'm missing out on some really epic Vehicon tailpipe-kicking, and it's almost over!"

Raf gave her a withering look. "So you'd risk your life just to see a 'cool fight?' "

The girl shrugged. "If it was a _really_ cool fight, then . . . maybe."

Jack face-palmed."You're ridiculous, you know that?"

Miko's face turned red. "Ridiculous? _RIDICULOUS_? You mean you_ wouldn't? You're_ the one who's ridiculous!"

"_Shhh." _Rafael placed a finger on his lips. "Did they hear us?" He asked, turning to Jack.

Suddenly, a loud humming sound erupted from behind them. Jack, Miko and Raf spun around to see a huge green-blue portal warp into view against the canyon wall.

"I think they wouldn't miss that," Jack said. As if on cue, a loud click sounded above them. They looked up to see a Vehicon towering above them and the glowing barrel of a blaster facing down right at them.

"The portal must have been for the Decepticons!'" Raf cried, throwing his hands over his face just before a loud blast rang throughout the canyon.

* * *

><p>Knockout struck the second-to-last Vehicon with so much force that the tip of his weapon came out the Vehicon's back dripping with fresh energon. He didn't even have time to revel in his victory, though, for a sudden scream made Knockout look over to the end of of the reddish canyon. It took the mech a moment to register what he was seeing.<p>

The last Vehicon was standing over the humans, blaster aimed. The humans didn't even to think to run, cowering before the mech. Knockout barely registered that there was a ground bridge portal behind the whole scene, but notice it he did. Scrap, if only it had appeared _sooner._

Hastily, the red mech dashed towards the humans in a desperate move to save them. He knew that it was much too late, and could only look on helplessly as a loud crack slammed against his audial receptors.

* * *

><p>Miko screamed, and covered her head. Her heart nearly stopped when a fateful blast sounded, and she flinched. However, no searing pain had accompanied the sound of the weapon firing.<p>

_I__s this what it's like to be dead? _She wondered, lowering her arms. Hesitantly, Miko looked up to see the Vehicon still towering before her. However, there was a large sizzling hole in the robot's chassis. The Vehicon looked down at its wound in surprise, then abruptly dropped to the ground.

_I'm alive!_ The girl thought incredulously. _But who saved us? Knockout doesn't have blasters. _Miko's question was then answered when a familiar Cybertronian stepped out of the ground bridge portal.

"Smokescreen!" Miko screeched, jumping up.

"Am I late?" The bot asked, lowering his firearm and glancing around at the carnage.

"You could've gotten here faster," Knockout growled, walking up to Smokescreen and sheathing his rod.

Smokescreen shrugged. "Quite frankly, it looks like you had the situation nearly handled. I only needed to fire one shot." He lifted his firing arm up to punctuate his statement and abruptly transformed it. Miko gasped as the young mech's arm shifted back from a blaster into its normal state . . . or what was supposed to be its normal state.

Jack's eyes widened. "Smokescreen, what happened to your arm?"

Smokescreen looked down at his left arm, which was in a cast-like structure, and grimaced. "_This _is the reason why I couldn't pick you guys up. Seems stupid to be off-duty though, when my blaster worked just fine."

"Yes, but you can't transform into your car form." Knockout growled

Miko looked around, her gaze narrowing. "By the way, now that all the fighting and near-death is over, I have to ask . . . _what in the All Spark is going on_?"

The two mechs standing over the teenagers exchanged a look. Smokescreen cast them a weak smile. "Your questions will answered after we get back to base, it isn't safe here."

That said, the group walked into the blue-green swirling mist that was the portal. Miko sneaked a glance back at the gruesome aftermath of Knockout's struggle with the Vehicons, before the portal completely swallowed her up. Outside the portal, the green-blue whirlwind dissipated, leaving the graying corpses to the sun and wind.

* * *

><p><strong>YAY, I'M DONE! There you have it, people, Chapter Three! (6,000 words, too! :DDDD)<strong>

**I know, it may have seemed kinda harsh in the middle of the chapter when Starscream attacked New York City, but don't worry, they only attack like one block _(O_****_ne block?! Are you serious? Okay everyone, ignore my sister here, she obviously doesn't want to admit the carnage that has been wrecked in her story. Whatever. I, on the other hand, quite enjoy torturing fictional characters . . .)_ then left for certain reasons. _(certain reasons? Lame. See people, this is why I am in charge of editing this story. Otherwise it would not be nearly as epic.)_ Anyway I really wanted the ball to get rolling.**

**ALSO, I have really good news! I found a site where you can post pictures that you drew _(everyone knows DeviantArt, H, soooo . . .)_, so I posted my OC character, Crookedjaw on there.**

**I'm almost done drawing two more OCs so then i'll post them on too!**

**Heres the site thingy-ma-jig just copy it and post it on the thingy on the top of the screen :D**

art/TFP-OC-CrookedJaw-490079835 **_. . . Which doesn't work, silly Hockey. Anyway, if you want to look, just go to DeviantArt, and search HockeyStar31. _**

**So . . . I'm writing this on an hour-long drive home from a hockey game I just played at. We won! (6-3) It was a good game, too (and the first for the season!), i scored two goals! (Yay me! :D) _Yes . . . yay you._**

**Anyway (getting off topic_ (there isn't anything remotely "on-topic" after this comment . . . -.-_)), my sister can write stuff below if she wants when she corrects, so . . . 'til next time everyone!**

**_Heheh, she expected me to just write comments at the bottom of the story. After she complained about me changing her last notes containing stuff like that "attacked only a block" stuff last chapter, I have resolved to only post snarky comments instead of changing whatever she writes OOC. Anything IC though, is free game for me to paraphrase or add detail to. You can't stop the snark, Hockey!_  
><strong>

**_Anywho, if you ever spot any errors that I may have missed through my efforts to correct my sister's work, please notify me through PM or review. My account name is Guestpersonanonymous, if you weren't already aware of that fact. Here's to hoping we get another chapter up soon! _**


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